Hamas: Our drones have collected intel over Kirya Military HQ in Tel Aviv

By JPOST.COM STAFF07/14/2014

After IDF shoots down drone over Ashdod, Hamas says it sent several drones into Israel which have surveillance and offensive capabilities.

Hamas took responsibility for sending the drone that was shot down by the IDF over the Ashdod area on Monday, claiming that they had in fact sent three "Ababil 1" model UAVs into Israel.

Ma'an News Agency quoted a statement by Hamas's Kassam Brigades as saying that engineers in Gaza had the capability to manufacture three types of the Ababil drones that are capable of carrying out reconnaissance missions, bombing missions and suicide missions.

The organization claimed that one of its drones had succeeded in penetrating Israeli airspace all the way to Tel Aviv where it took pictures of the Kirya military headquarters.

Three drones carried out a number of sorties into Israel, according to the Kassam Brigades, who stated that they lost contact with one of the UAVs, presumably the drone shot down over Israel.

The IDF said that a Patriot missile battery had shot the Gazan drone out of the sky over Ashdod earlier on Monday.

The Israeli Navy was searching for remnants of the drone, which was intercepted over an open area near the Ashdod coast.